Monday, October 27, 2008

121/132

4:30 pm with Miranda

Something was wrong with the heat today.  At the start of class, the room was 87 degrees and 51% humidity.  By the end, it got up almost to 102, with 46% humidity.  Most of the time, it felt cold, and that had some interesting effects.

Of course, flexibility was a bit off, and I could really feel that in Fixed Firm, Camel, Rabbit, and some of the stretchy poses.  That's to be expected.  One of the selling points of the heat is that it makes you more limber.

As an odd benefit, I found the balancing poses much easier to do in the relative cold.  I held two full periods out of the four total in both Standing Head to Knee and Standing Bow.  And I had no trouble at all holding, and even pushing, Balancing Stick.  I had not been all that aware before how much the heat adds to the challenge of these poses.  It makes some sense:  there is a mental aspect to dealing with the heat, and I can see how that might make it harder to keep focused like you need to for these poses.

The other benefit, if it is a benefit, is that a strength pose, like Awkward, seems so much easier in the cold.  Same thing with the entire balancing series.  I felt like I did all of these really well.  But then, it was cold, so its kind of a cheat.

Afterward, I'm feeling a little bit weird in both of my knees.  They aren't hurt, but they are a little sore.  That may be from pushing the stretches too hard under the colder conditions, and its definitely something I will have to mind tomorrow.

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